Book Description
In 1945, many Europeans still heated with coal, cooled their food with ice, and lacked indoor plumbing. Today, things could hardly be more different. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the average European's buying power tripled, while working hours fell by a third. The European Economy since 1945 is a broad, accessible, forthright account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II. Barry Eichengreen argues that the continent's history has been critical to its economic performance, and that it will continue to be so going forward.
Challenging standard views that basic economic forces were behind postwar Europe's success, Eichengreen shows how Western Europe in particular inherited a set of institutions singularly well suited to the economic circumstances that reigned for almost three decades. Economic growth was facilitated by solidarity-centered trade unions, cohesive employers' associations, and growth-minded governments--all legacies of Europe's earlier history. For example, these institutions worked together to mobilize savings, finance investment, and stabilize wages.
However, this inheritance of economic and social institutions that was the solution until around 1973--when Europe had to switch from growth based on brute-force investment and the acquisition of known technologies to growth based on increased efficiency and innovation--then became the problem.
Thus, the key questions for the future are whether Europe and its constituent nations can now adapt their institutions to the needs of a globalized knowledge economy, and whether in doing so, the continent's distinctive history will be an obstacle or an asset.
Book Description
This exciting text provides students with a superior grounding in contemporary international political economy. It emphasizes current scholarship and provides the background in politics, economics, and history that students need to understand the contemporary global economy.
Customer Reviews:
readable textbook.......2007-02-14
This textbook was easy to read (not overly technical and used a lot of real-world analogies). An instuctor or professor who requires this text is probably taking a practical approach to the course, which typically means it will be more interesting to learn about the subject matter. The text is only in paperback and not particularly durable for backpack toting- buy used if possible.
Just great.......2007-01-10
First the book appears to be full of ideas without a touch of reality or just theoretical, but after reading the first and second chapter and after understanding the principles of econ 101/102, everything will make sense. There is so much to learn in this book and, the good thing, it is not boring.
I have to say that it was the best political econ book I've ever read, and I do recommend it for beginners.
gives an understanding of the many forms of globalisation.......2006-09-28
Oatley provides a readable, non-mathematical description of international economics since World War 2. The book will give the reader a good grounding in understanding globalisation. Not as something to be feared or tamed, but as arising from fundamental trends that are effectively impossible to reverse.
Oatley certainly talks about more than just globalisation. Like managing exchange rates. But even here, it is discussed in the context and reality of a world where immense pools of capital are often highly mobile. This is not typically thought of by the general public as globalisation. But the text shows that capital flow across national boundaries is indeed another aspect of globalisation, that has become common in the last 20 years.
coherent and concise.......2006-05-05
Oatley has a way of boiling down complex concepts into short, pithy chapters. The writing is clear and concise and the examples used in the text provide interesting perspectives on current political issues such as the US budget deficit or the power dynamics in debt negotiations between powerful international creditors (IMF, World Bank) and debtor countries. The chapters are well structured--with introductions and conclusions that really help draw out the key points of the chapter. I found that this book provided coherent theories with which I could better understand material from other political science and economics classes. Overall, I highly recommend it.
Well researched and excellently written.......2006-04-14
Thomas Oatley has written a brilliant historic piece of literature. He uses great examples to explain difficult concepts and leaves you with a comprehensive understanding of the topic. I found this book to be paramount in my undestanding of today's current debates on the US Trade Policy, our deficit, etc.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Political Economics, Economics, or just wants to learn about our economic and trade policy
5 Stars: Great Job!
Book Description
This up-to-date book provides a balanced, in-depth background to main IPE theoretical approaches, examines IPE issues in historical perspective, and discusses domestic-international linkages.
Managing the Global Economy Since World War II: The Institutional Framework; The Realist Perspective; The Liberal Perspective; The Historical Structuralist Perspective; International Monetary Relations; Foreign Debt; Global Trade Relations; Regionalism and Global Trade Regime; Multinational Corporations and Global Production; International Development; Current Trends in the Global Political Economy.
Anyone interested in international political economy.
Customer Reviews:
Great introductory text!.......2006-12-05
Theodore H. Cohn's "Global Political Economy: Theory and Practice" is an excellent primer to the study of international political economy (IPE). This text covers the main theoretical approaches to IPE and provides fairly detailed accounts of several issues such as "International Monetary Relations", debt, trade, regionalism, MNC's, international development and a brief section on globalization. I used this book for an undergrad. IPE course about a year ago and I find myself constantly referring back to it, mostly for an overview of a subject. The most valuable component of this book is the reference section at the end of each chapter. Cohn has excellent sources that are invaluable for those who wish to pursue a certain theoretical perspective as well as a specific issue. These citations were particularly helpful when writing research papers. Overall, this is an outstanding beginners text in the subject of IPE.
Excellent if wordy.......2004-10-02
I have used this book over the past few years in an introductory course on International Politics. The organization of the book is quite ideal for this purpose as the paradigms used in IR (Realism, Liberalism, and Structuralism) are used in the presentation of ways to approach the study of International Political Economy. In addition, there is a useful overview of the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF, IBRD, etc.) and chapters on IPE topics, such as currency exchange and debt. The only concern that I have had with this text is its growing wordiness, as each edition (now in its 3rd) is released. Undergraduates rarely have the patience for wading through pages of text, particularly on topics such as economics! With that caveat (for which I have only a limited sympathy) I would say the book is one of the best availbable on the subject.
Good Introduction & Reference.......2003-06-17
A great reference and introduction to the topic for students unfamiliar with the terrain (like me).
Despite it's heavy title this text simply and clearly introduces you to the global players and what they do. It then provides an overview of how they are seen by realists (the right), liberals (the free trade proponents), and historical structuralists (the left). It then provides an invaluable overview of major themes in the world economy and offers an impressively unbiased analysis of how people with different perspectives and organizations with different agendas view and respond to these themes.
If you really want to start to understand how global trade is facilitated (and hindered), and are willing to exert the energy to take a deeper look, then use this book to learn about the World Bank, UN (United Nations), IMF (International Monetary Fund), MNCs(Multinationl Companies), Foreign Debt, International Development, Capital Flows and Controls, etc.
Though filled with acronyms and the topics are heavy the book is a surprisingly friendly read. Readers are properly introduced to the international actors and agencies before they are discussed. There is even a glossary at the back in case you forget that SPARTECA is the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement. =)
While obviously not a casual read, it is a surprisingly captivating read if you have any desire to learn about globalization and the shepparding of the world economy (the shepards still have A LOT to learn).
As with any good book, after reading this book you will be attracted to articles you never even looked at before. Even more amazingly, you will completely understand them.
Book Description
This comprehensive introduction to international relations focuses on what has changed and what has remained the same since the end of the cold war. Providing a strong conceptual, historical, and theoretical foundation, it identifies key perspectives and the actors in world politics, explains the concepts, tracks the trends (global interdependence and crises of authority), and examines current and future global concerns.
KEY TOPICS: The volume provides an introduction to trends, perspectives and concepts, and examines security and statecraft, international security, civil society and the global economy, religion, nationalism and conflicting identities and civil society.
For political science and international relations professionals and others interested in the global agenda.
Customer Reviews:
Great Intro to IR.......2006-12-28
Unbiased evaluation of international relations focusing on key issues of security, economics, and identity. Other themes include globalization and resource managment. Each segment includes web links to locations which further your study. Each chapter includes historical perspective as well as theroetical underpinnings. The end of the book has a handy glossary from which to quickly recall previously discussed definitions. Whether you are a realist, internationalist, structuralist or feminist, or a little of each, you will improve your understanding on the state of nations and how we got here and hopefully develop insight into where we are going.
Amazon.com
An absolutely brilliant analysis of the ways in which individuals and organizations of the media are influenced to shape the social agendas of knowledge and, therefore, belief. Contrary to the popular conception of members of the press as hard-bitten realists doggedly pursuing unpopular truths, Herman and Chomsky prove conclusively that the free-market economics model of media leads inevitably to normative and narrow reporting. Whether or not you've seen the eye-opening movie, buy this book, and you will be a far more knowledgeable person and much less prone to having your beliefs manipulated as easily as the press.
Book Description
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
Based on a series of case studies—including the media’s dichotomous treatment of “worthy” versus “unworthy” victims, “legitimizing” and “meaningless” Third World elections, and devastating critiques of media coverage of the U.S. wars against Indochina—Herman and Chomsky draw on decades of criticism and research to propose a Propaganda Model to explain the media’s behavior and performance. Their new introduction updates the Propaganda Model and the earlier case studies, and it discusses several other applications. These include the manner in which the media covered the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent Mexican financial meltdown of 1994-1995, the media’s handling of the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in 1999 and 2000, and the media’s treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation. What emerges from this work is a powerful assessment of how propagandistic the U.S. mass media are, how they systematically fail to live up to their self-image as providers of the kind of information that people need to make sense of the world, and how we can understand their function in a radically new way.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant critique of the American mass media.......2007-09-30
In this critique of the American Mass Media, the authors present a "propaganda model" and then go on to support it with a variety of examples. The model is based on five "filters" that news passes through:
1. That of corporate/profit-minded ownership
2. Of advertising as a revenue model, which makes media reliant on big advertisers
3. Of the necessity to be close to common "sources" of news and PR (because the media can not be present themselves everywhere that news is made at the time it's made), many of which are controlled by Government and big corporations
4. The aversion to Flak, i.e., negative responses to media programs and
5. Anti-communism as a control mechanism (yes, the book is fairly old - it was originally written in 1988, I think)
These forces cause the media to behave in certain strange ways towards news. One of these, the authors point out, is the treatment of "worthy" and "unworthy" victims, the former being those that are oppressed by/in countries aligned with Communists, and the latter being victims of policies supported by the United States. For instance, the murder of Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest murdered by the Polish police, attracted far greater attention in the media than the murders of several other priests murdered in countries that were within the American sphere of influence.
Unlike other treatments that suggest a conspiracy theory, the authors have chosen to analyze the forces (the five filters) that make journalists and others internalize the principles of distortion.
The Propaganda Model in the book is very powerful, and comes alive through the numerous case studies. As the authors point out, a freely functioning media is often thought to be central to any notion of a democracy, and hence the importance of this deep understanding of the ways the media operates.
The book leaves me hanging with a few thoughts:
1. How does this thinking apply to media in other countries where the models of ownership, legal structures, market economy and many other variables are very different? Especially, I am curious to know if someone has done a similar analysis of media in my home country, India.
2. Is the web helping democratize news? The authors talk a fair bit about the consolidation of mainstream media in a few hands, and the reasons for that which are primarily around the economics of distribution. I feel that the web has changed the economics sufficiently for news to become more open, but I'd love to see a more academic treatment of the subject.
Presents Examples; Model is Too Theoretical.......2007-08-13
This book presents a "propaganda model" which is designed to predict (and has held up remarkably well) what stories will be covered by the press and what ones will go uncovered. The model is made by filters, which a story must pass through - the more filters a story collides with the less likely it'll be covered. The problem with the model is that it's nothing new - it explains what we've already known; that victims of the state get less coverage and victims of our enemies are exaggerated. But, no new insight will arise about what causes it (editors blocking the story, journalistic incompetence, etc.) and it might be naive to think anything one model can, because circumstances are highly individual.
Furthermore, the rest of the book (which is just individual analyses of overseas conflicts and how they were depicted back home) hardly addresses the model - because it can't. The only way a book could have incorporated the thesis (propaganda model) would be to investigate what at home, in the newsbereaus went wrong. Instead, the authors examine overseas situations and who the media sided with. Regardless of your views about whether Chomsky's and Herman's view of the truth about these situations is, the model seems like an excuse to write about these overseas situations.
With that being said, the book is very helpful in describing what really happened overseas, particularly Indochina and Central America. Not only will you learn a lot about what actually happened, but also about the unreported and misreported events.
Don't get the book to understand anything more about how the media operates (you'll learn nothing new). Get the book if you want another side to the presented overseas situations. This newer edition talks about the IMF and World Bank protests in 1999 and 2000, and also the Kosovo Crisis.
Best book to read if you want to understand how the media works .......2007-07-07
Manufacturing Consent
Manufacturing Consent pretty much sums up how the media works within the United States model of democracy. Far from a "conspiracy theorist" (which Chomsky is not) evaluation, the authors explain that the control of the media is systematic within a corporate-controlled framework; that is to say that, since the media is essentially run by large corporations, they wont go too far to the left, exposing the crimes of the country that allowed them to be subsequently rich. So this book is as much of a "conspiracy" analysis as an analysis of capitalism itself it, which is ludicrous, as neither are "conspiratorial" (in the sense of people who think, for example, the U.S. government faked the 1969 moon landing), but rather the expected, systematic outcome of what takes place under such a system; YOU own a newspaper - you get YOUR views across (or something close to it).
Chomsky and Herman vociferously reveal that political debate is framed within certain bounds that are mainly applicable to how far "left" you can go. For example, the question is always asked, "What are `we' going to do about Iran's nuclear program?" The question is almost never asked whether they have the right to even have a nuclear program, so there definitely won't ever be any debate within that framework. So in other words, the media makes presuppositions we're just supposed to accept, and if we don't debate within that structure, we'll be labeled "marginal" and thus our opinions shunned.
This book is far better than, say, Slander, by Ann Coulter, as she apparently fails to understand the role of the "liberal" intellectuals and reporters, which is to set the bounds on how far to the left you can go in political debate - and if you cross that line, there will be a whole list of words you'll be called, like,
-socialist
-communist
-anti-American
-terrorist sympathizer
-and a slew of other silly buzzwords, which have been completely evacuated of any substance, and utilized purposely to dismantle any further discourse.
Anton Batey
Anton_Batey@yahoo.com
A socialist idea from a socialist.......2007-06-28
Now im going to sate this right out: i dont have any negative feelings for Noam Chomsky as a person. He seems well intentioned and his work does bring out facts about american foreign policy that are interesting. My problem with most of his works are his scholarship. This book i have read more then once and it is a severe blunder in an attempt at media analysis. The basic theory behind this book is that The News corporations are beholden to the advertising companies who give them money and the the government who not only helps the news corp with "Selective" news leaks but is sinisterly connected to the corporations. Not to mention the monopoly of only a few media corporations controlling the news. Since Big business (which owns government) is controlled by elites, They mold the news to fit what they want people to hear.
This is supposed to be a free market view. Actually this is very much the view a person steeped on socialist thinking would have. The idea of elites managing a system from the top down could be nothing farther from a freemarket view. As a editor states in the documentary, this view could only come from someone who doesnt understand the way a newspaper or news show works. This book is interesting if you believe in capitalist conspiracies
Manufacturing Lies.......2007-06-05
Manufacturing Consent is poorly researched, shoddily organized and replete with attempts to mislead and deceive the unsuspecting reader. This is not hyperbole- one can find falsehoods on nearly every page.
A typical example of the book's deceit is Chomsky and Herman's analysis of "legitimizing versus meaningless" Central American elections. They attack the fairness of the 1984 Salvadoran elections on the grounds that voting was required by law and that the government defense minister Guillermo Garcia stated abstention would be treasonous. They state that a "climate of fear" which worked to "encumber free debate and free choice... was rarely even hinted at in the mass media" (Manufacturing Consent p. 108).
They also provide a footnote (n. 69, p. 359) stating: "Warren Hoge did quote Garcia, but only to suggest an open election: 'Without any lies, you can see here what it is that the people want...' ("Salvadorans Jam Polling Stations," New York Times, Mar. 29, 1982)".
There are two problems here:
1) The Warren Hoge NYT article (the actual headline is "Salvadorans Jam Polling Stations; Rebels Close Some" - the latter part curiously omitted) cited in the footnote proves just the opposite of what Chomsky and Herman claim about the US media:
a) It explicitly mentions that "[t]he left had refused to run any candidates, arguing that they would not be safe from retaliatory violence in the current atmosphere in El Salvador."
b) It explicitly quotes a woman at a polling place who said "that people had voted out of fear that officials would threaten those whose names did not appear on the voting lists."
c) It explicitly mentions that after a guerrilla attack on a polling place, "soldiers pulled residents from their homes and beat them." Other articles from the same day mention guerrilla threats to kill those who voted ("Rural Voters, Despite Fears, Hike for Miles," New York Times, Mar. 29, 1982)
And from these sources Chomsky and Herman would have the reader believe that a "climate of fear" in the Salvadoran elections was "rarely even hinted at" in the major media. Ridiculous.
2) Chomsky and Herman also do not mention Daniel Ortega giving the same treason warning as the Salvadoran defense minister to Nicaraguans in 1984: "The only ones who will not vote will be the enemies of Nicaragua, the traitors, the turncoats... and [they] will expose themselves to the fury of the people at the moment of intervention" (Robert Leiken, Why Nicaragua Vanished, p. 136), nor that this threat at a campaign rally was not cited in major press accounts (ibid. p. 135), a fact which would seem to directly contradict their propaganda model. Instead Chomsky and Herman's analysis of coercion in Nicaragua's 1984 elections descends into utter hypocrisy and absurdity: they cite a Time magazine article that says failure to vote was considered a counter-revolutionary stance, and which quotes Ortega as saying those who did not vote would be "sellouts". To this they lamely reply that Ortega's statement "was an insult but not a clear threat... not clearly a warning" (p. 124). And this rubbish is held up as penetrating analysis?
Anyone who reads this book should take the time to fact check and verify each citation, if only to see how badly they're being conned. Better yet, save your time and money and look elsewhere for scholarly and intellectually honest treatments of media bias.
Book Description
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr. Ostrom first describes three models most frequently used as the foundation for recommending state or market solutions. She then outlines theoretical and empirical alternatives to these models in order to illustrate the diversity of possible solutions. In the following chapters she uses institutional analysis to examine different ways--both successful and unsuccessful--of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the tragedy of the commons argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.
Customer Reviews:
Addressing the Collective Action Problem.......2007-08-02
Ostrom attempts to refute the belief that only through state and or market-centered controls can commonly pooled resources (CPRs) be effectively governed. Ostrom writes, "Communities of individuals have relied on institutions resembling neither the state nor the market to govern some resource systems with reasonable degrees of success over long periods of time" (p. 1). Governing the Commons sets out to discover why some groups are able to effectively govern and manage CPRs and other groups fail. She tries to identify both the internal and external factors "that can impede or enhance the capabilities of individuals to use and govern CPRs."
The first section of the book examines both state-controlled and privatization property rights regimes, and illustrates failures in both regimes; namely, that central authorities often fail to have complete accuracy of information, have only limited monitoring capabilities, and possess a weak sanctioning reliability. As such, a centralized governing body may actually govern the commons inaccurately and make a bad situation worse. In the case of privatized property rights regimes, Ostrom illustrates two main points: 1) it assumes that property is homogenous and any division of property will be equitable; and 2) privatization will not work with non-stationary property (fisheries, for example).
After discussing the state-controlled and privatization property rights regimes, Ostrom attempts examine the causes of successful CPR governance, and the catalysts which lead to failure. Being part of the "new institutionalist" school, Ostrom seeks to examine the rules, structures, and frameworks within the various CPR governance structures. Ostrom has discovered a number of "design principles" within the successful CPR governance cases. These principles include: 1) a clear definition of boundaries, 2) monitors who either are appropriators of the resource or accountable to the appropriators, 3) graduated sanctions, 4) mechanisms controlled by the appropriators used to mediate conflict and when necessary, change the rules, 5) a congruence between the rules used and the local conditions.
In other words, Ostrom suggests that these "design principles," form a cooperative institutional structure. If the correct institutions are in place, the players will see cooperation as the best means to gain optimal outcomes. These mechanisms create a confidence between players that defections will be minimal, and those that do defect will be sanctioned accordingly. Additionally, the institutional structures create an environment in which resources are distributed in such a way that all (or at least most) players benefit. As such, many of these institutional structures must be accompanied by a good deal of trust between players. This can only be developed over time and is most likely to succeed when the number of players in the CPR is reasonably small.
One of the most important works in the social science literature published in the last 100 years.......2006-12-30
"Governing the Commons" has become a classic, not only within the literature of political science, but more broadly throughout the social sciences. In the book, Elinor Ostrom argues brilliantly and compelling for a third way of avoiding Garrett Hardin's "tragedy of the commons," in addition to privatization (conversion of the commons to private property) or government regulation (conversion of the commons to public property). Though numerous examples, Ostrom demonstrates how users of common property resources have managed, in various places around the world, to sustainably manage those resources through local, self-regulation. In other words, common property regimes can avoid the "tragedy of the commons."
Ostrom recognizes that common property management regimes do not always work. Indeed, the seem to fail as often as they succeed. To explain why this is the case, and to help predict the likelihood of success or failure, Ostrom develops an elaborate and very useful model of common property success/failure. In the 15 years since she published "Governing the Commons," that model has not been significantly improved by other scholars. Her book remains as current and important today, as it was when she first published it in 1990. It is required reading for all social scientists, indeed anyone, interested in resource conservation and property systems.
conventional theory applied to odd cases.......2002-05-22
Ostroms' book covers a variety of cases where allocational difficulties arise. She employs sound economic reasoning in analyzing a number of cases where ordinary property rights enforcment is difficult. This book illustrates how vital institutional arrangements are in managing natural resources. Self-described environmentalists should read this book to see how many of the problems that concern them can actually get solved. The history in this book is made interesting through the application of economic concepts. This is not light reading, but it surely is interesting- for serious readers.
Book Description
America’s Bubble Economy is the first book to focus on several simultaneous financial bubbles that are interacting to temporarily boost—and ultimately threaten—the United States and world economies. Filled with expert analysis and straight talk, this book will show you how to turn the coming economic transformation into a once-in-a-lifetime wealth-building opportunity.
Customer Reviews:
Big on assertions, little on proofs or data.......2007-08-09
The authors make a common mistake of talking about numbers (like federal deficits) in absolute terms. These numbers are always big, and create an immediate feeling they must be bad. Compared to our GNP and our national return on assets, how much debt is good, and how much is bad? Unfortunately these questions are never addressed by the authors. The authors make many "self-evident" assertions, and then create scenerios based upon these assertions. Don't look to this book for involved analysis on why the assertions might be true. Buy this book if you are already convinced and want some very general ideas on how to deal with bubbles.
An "Easy Read" (repetitive and simplistic).......2007-04-25
"America's Bubble Economy" tells us what we already have heard countless times - the stock market, consumer spending, home values, the trade deficit, consumer debt, and the government deficit are all UP SHARPLY! Japan and China now hold our future in their hands!
Recommendations include 1)avoid real estate, except for personal use (why not also recommend renting?), buy gold, commodities, and Euros (won't that create new bubbles?), stash cash in short-term funds, avoid jobs in the capital sector (most have already moved to China; what about service jobs vulnerable to India?), and become employed in healthcare or transportation (what about the current slide in trucking jobs and President Bush's efforts to let Mexican truckers in?).
Yes, I do think we have serious problems - however, "America's Bubble Economy" is too simplistic.
Colladoproperties.com.......2007-03-28
There are five bubbles in the economy, and thats not including the false promises of Social security and medicare.
Its not even including the fact that we are in peak oil.
The reality is that we have Real Estate overpriced and beginning to fall towards a crash.
The dollar approaching 80, after that its a spiral downward.
Consumer Debt is at its highest in history. People are litteraly in debt to their eyeballs.
An international trade deficit with China that may well make us one of the poorest nation in the coming future.
A national Debt of 7 billion/week.
Do not ignore the warning signs.
This book will tell you how to get prepaired.
Bleak view of the US economy, and sadly, completely accurate........2007-02-15
I've read several books recently about profiting from real estate, economic theory, the future of the US economy, etc, and I am more than a little freaked out to report that this book is both the most scary of the bunch and is also panning out to be the most accurate.
I've been recommending "America's Bubble Economy" relentlessly to my friends, and I've changed my investment strategies accordingly. Now I cross my fingers, bite my nails, and hope that Wiedemer, against all common sense and logic, is overexaggerating.
Great Analysis.......2007-01-04
Great Analysis! Am not sure that I agree with all of the conclusions, only time will tell.
Book Description
The first book to give students the breadth and depth of scholarship they need to understand the politics of the world economy, THE POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS has been fully updated to reflect the sweeping changes that continue to reshape the international arena. This Sixth Edition strengthens the text's contemporary coverage of political and economic relations, economic polarization in developing nations, and the roots of economic decline in centrally planned economies. Its new emphasis on the impact of economic globalization makes this definitive text ideal for use as a core text for the International Political Economy course, or as a supplement in the International Relations course.
Customer Reviews:
One textbook I was glad I bought.......2007-09-04
Minus the cost, of course, the book was a good purchase. I found it easy to read and helpful when it came time to write papers and site examples. This is definitely a good reference book to have around.
Good Book on Political Economy.......2003-04-29
As the last reviewer, who appears to be the author, said, this is a good book for undergraduate courses on international political economy. It does a great job of explaining the basic concepts and is a very readable book. It was an assigned reading for a course I took on international political economy and it provided an excellent structure and basis for the course.
The only downsides are a few bad examples and minor factual details. It is nothing that seriously affects or hurts the book as a whole. Also, the book has a slight slant to the neo-liberal perspective on political economy. Marxism, as a serious alternative theory, is short-changed a bit in the text, although most other texts have an even larger bias in this area. Overall, it is a good text.
The Politics of International Economic Relations.......2001-07-18
This is a text book for use in undergraduate courses on international political economy. Currently, it is the top choice of many instructors because it provides a thorough but readable historical account of how the world economy has been managed since the end of World War II. The book is organized in chapters about the international monetary system, foreign direct investment, and trade in both the developed and developing countries. In addition, it contains chapters about world oil politics, theories of economic development, and economic transitions in the formerly communist countries.
Book Description
In The New Golden Age, bestselling author and economist Ravi Batra identifies the roadblocks to economic prosperity--and what we need to do to overcome them. Bringing the same insight and expertise that made books like The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism international bestsellers, Batra takes on falling minimum wages, corporate scandals, rocketing oil prices, and many of the other crises facing the world economy. He also offers an expansive, optimistic vision of how the international community can address them and bring about something historically unprecedented: true global economic prosperity.
Customer Reviews:
The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos.......2007-08-08
An exceptional economics book that tells the truth directly and in simple and completely understandable terms. Scuttles the Media and Political hype and presents what is needful and workable toward economic democracy that is now being submerged be the Global "Free Market" lies, myths and swindles.
Should be required reading for every truly patriotic citizen.
Stays on message - still the most potent critic of Capitalism .......2007-06-16
Ravi Batra is still at it, almost three decades since he penned the classic "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism: A New Study of History". We have come a long way with this author since then and never been bored. Batra's thesis is that we have entered the era of financial capitalism, the last stage of the Age of Acquisitors, where an increasingly uneven distribution of wealth feeds into increasing financial leverage and speculation, until the system can't handle it anymore and collapses. Following the collapse is financial destitution of many and social chaos. Such an outcome is still the most potent form of criticism of Capitalism. If Batra is at some point proved right that
a) the Great Depression of the 1930s was no fluke and
b) that innovations and safeguards to our financial system adopted since then cannot prevent another meltdown,
then that is a major an indictment of our form of social organization and, ultimately, our way of life.
At the heart of Batra's writings are the ideas of his mentor P.R. Sarkar. Batra has done more than anyone to publicize the message of this giant of modern day Indian thought in the West. This book is yet another installation into that body of work. While the message may no longer be as novel or fresh as it was in the 1980s, his work now builds on three decades of experience, including a multitude of accurate predictions (although the most important one has so far been a spectacular failure - the Great Depression of 1990!). He is now more circumspect about such things, including the adoption of a fiat monetary system in the 1970s and how monetary policy has been successfully used to forestall a major crash. In one sense he is quite correct, our monetary and financial system is an ongoing social experiment. Batra's work is, if anything, a reminder that we take a lot of things for granted. It is healthy to consider the alternatives, such as if the systemic stability were to give way to catastrophe. Central banks all over the world now devote considerable resources into researching this question and government surveillance of the financial market is now commonplace with stock markets all over the world soaring. Interestingly, all of that, albeit important, is not really the key focus of his work. As the name of his new book suggests, it is the glorious new dawn of a world based on the sentient philosophy of his mentor that is his main message.
Time will tell if Batra and the ideas he promotes are the real deal. So far, he has yet to prove the worth of these ideas with his major prediction. However, he has offered many novel insights into how modern capitalism works. For instance, in the 1980s he was one of the first to talk about how the financial sector was becoming the key to social developments in the West. Today, we take such insights for granted. Overall, the ideas he is describing are more than worthy of our careful consideration. Let us also not forget that he made a prediction in the book mentioned above in 1978 that Communism would fall. It did. As is the norm for him, the book is exceedingly well written and the message as fascinating as ever. Batra tends to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us, even if it sometimes looks as if he going down the wrong path. Even if he has made a big misstep, in my opinion, he is still headed in the right direction. The ideas are serious and profound and also filled with hope. The book is highly recommended for the intellectually curious or those scoping about for a more meaningful approach to life than what the real world has on offer in the early 21th century.
A Call to Arms!!!.......2007-03-25
In this book, Batra expains how the economic chaos and political corruption will continue to escalate and worsen over the next few years until the working class eventually rise up like warriors against the acquisitor class (capitalist - Russ Winter calls them the "pigmen") who have infiltrated all aspects of our government, the press, and our society at large. This uprising will dawn a new golden era of prosperity for the masses and the working class. A move away from "trickle down" economics where indebtedness of the masses for the fortitude of the richest has resulted in an increasingly unstable bubble-led economy with resultant record trade imbalances that leaves us (as a nation and society) in a precarious and vulnerable situation.
Books:
- The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith
- The Language of Empire: Abu Ghraib and the American Media
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
- The Movie Business: The Definitive Guide to the Legal and Financial Secrets of Getting Your Movie Made
- The New American Story
- The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
- The Origin of the Second Amendment: A Documentary History of the Bill of Rights in Commentaries on Liberty, Free Government & an Armed Populace 1787-1792
- The Places In Between
- The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Theory and History of Literature, Volume 10)
- The Rwanda Crisis
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Business Communication: Process and Product
- The Art of Being a Woman: A Simple Guide to Everyday Love and Laughter
- Introduccion a la Estadistica Economica
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- The Old Man and The Sea
- Straight from the Heart II: More True Stories of Remarkable Encounters with Once-in-a-Lifetime Horse
- The Book of Overclocking: Tweak Your PC to Unleash Its Power
- Litigation Services Handbook, 2004 Cumulative Supplement
- Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought
Economic History
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century
Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction
A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
